In commercial and residential construction, electrical conductors which run between various locations are typically housed in an outer protective jacket. Such structures are referred to as electrical conduits. One such conduit is a flexible, metallic conduit where the conduit includes an outer helically convoluted metal jacket for enhanced flexibility. The conduit is terminated to an electrical junction or outlet box and the individual conductors are terminated to an electrical device supported in the junction box.
In order to suitably retain the conduit in the junction box, a conduit connector or fitting is employed to terminate the conduit and to mechanically and electrically support the conduit to the junction box itself. Conduit connectors of this type are well-known in the electrical connection art. These connectors typically include a cylindrical body which supports therein an end extent of the conduit. The cylindrical body is attachable to the junction box through a knock-out opening to allow passage of the conductors into the junction box. A screw may be interposed through the wall of the body to engage the conduit to securely retain the conduit within the body of the connector.
Also, in order to mechanically attach the connector to the outlet box within the opening, the cylindrical body of the connector may be of the split-shell type, where upon tightening of the screw against the conduit, the respective shells of the connector body open up slightly so as to engage the wall of the outlet box about the opening. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,147,776 and 3,556,566 are examples of this type of conduit connector.
Improvements in such conduit connectors include the use of conduit engaging saddles attached to the end of the screw interposed through the body of the connector. The saddles are designed to engage the conduit to provide further retentive securement of the conduit within the connector body. Examples of the use of saddles in combination with conduit connectors are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,490,286 and 2,643,136.
While the saddles shown in these patents attempt to provide improved retention of the conduit within the connector body, these connectors of the prior art suffer from two distinct disadvantages.
First, the saddles themselves, while providing additional securement for the conduit within the connector body, fail to provide the axial pullout strength required in order to restrain the conduit from being easily pulled from the connector body once the connector is attached to the junction box. Additionally, as the saddles are attached to the end of the screw extending through the connector body, such attachment requires complicated manufacturing steps or modifications to the connector body in order to provide access to the end of the screw for attachment of the saddle thereto.
In above-referenced U.S. Pat. No. 2,643,136, access to the interior of the conduit connector must be provided so as to permit swaging of the tip of the screw so as to retain the saddle thereon. Further, in U.S. Pat. No. Des. 336,282 and Des. 360,188, the undersurface of the connector must be provided with an access opening to enable a tool to be inserted therein so that the saddle may be staked or connected to the end of the screw.
It is therefore desirable to provide a conduit connector which provides for increased axial pullout strength and which may be manufactured more simply and efficiently.